Single family home sales also improved climbing 1.7% from July and rising 12.8% above the level seen in August 2012 while the median selling price increased a notable 14.4% above the level seen a year earlier.

Inventory of single family homes increased from July to 2.01 million units but still remained 5.6% below the level seen in August 2012 which, along with the sales pace, resulted in a monthly supply of 5.0 months.

The following charts (click for full-screen dynamic version) shows national existing single family home sales, median home prices, inventory and months of supply since 2005.